First of all I’m sorry to hear that you feel disappointed.
Secondly, I think you are writing in the wrong thread here 😉
This thread is about TFGM (Train Fever Game Manager) a non official tool developed by me (I’m not a part of the development team, I don’t even live in the same country or speak German), but I will try to give you some help.
I have read your threads and it sounds like you are trying to apply RRT, TT and other earlier transport simulators logic into Train Fever. This won’t take you far…
Train Fever game mechanics works entirely different from these games, forget all about your earlier tactics. You can’t lay tracks up- downhill in 45 degrees, as in reality, you have to follow the landscapes contour lines and climb up/down the hills/mountains. You can turn on the contour line layer in the lower right corner. You can’t just lay tracks in a straight line from A to B, you need to study the landscape to plan the route. This is a part of the game strategy.
Laying double, triple, quadruple or any number of tracks, is very easy. The track snaps together and you can build as many tracks you like, not restricted to only double tracks.
I can agree that tunnels and bridges can be a bit tedious to master. When it comes to bridges, you can build them in several steps. If I know I will be needing more than one track, I first build a ramp that ends before the road/river begins. Then the bridge segment and then a ramp down again.
When you add tracks to the bridge, the bridge foundation will be expanding in a right angle to the track, you need to be sure there is enough space to expand the foundation. Just as in real life, the foundation can’t expand into a road or canal.
Tunnels are a different chapter. They can be a true pain, but most of the time they work very well. One thing you would like to avoid is to have an S-curve inside a tunnel, that will make it near impossible to lay double tracks.
When planning for a double track tunnel, I usually raise the terrain across the area where the tunnel will begin and end. I raise it so it forms a steep slope across all the planned tracks. This works fine in 97% of the cases.
The industry model also works a bit different from most of the earlier games. In some games you could “push” goods up in the chain from bottom to top. Train Fever works on a model where it first has to be a demand for goods at the top level. Cities are placing “orders” at the industries after demand, calculated on number of factories, shops etc in each city. The order is placed at the factory with the fastest delivery time (roundtrip). I do agree that this is a bit odd calculated. It seems it only rely for frequency, not the frequency and capacity.
If you turn on the Cargo layer you will notice that some cargo “walk” by them self. If they can reach the destination faster, by walking, they will do so and ignore your line. In the factory information you can see if it is using your line or not.
If you click on the city name, you will see how much goods are currently being delivered and how much is needed.
The most important rule is the 20 minute rule. No passengers or cargo will even begin to travel if it can’t reach its destination, door-to-door, within 20 min. real time (including loading, reloading, unloading, waiting time etc.)
There are plenty of guides out there to explain various aspects of the game. Have a look here for some basic guides.
The Train Fever community is very friendly and supportive. As long you keep a friendly and open mind, you will find that there are plenty of gamers willing to help you with specific issues you might encounter.
These are the major forums for Train Fever.
- Train-Fever.com
- Train-Fever.net (I know, it is almost 100% german, but Google translate works quite well)
- Steam forum (the most active English speaking forum I know)
- GOG forum (less active)
It is not my intention to “convince” you that this is a great game, I’m just trying to help you overcome some of the game mechanics…
Good luck.
